The big night sail......
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For me, (Jean), anticipation of our next leg from Jurien Bay to Steep Point had been building for a while and tieing my stomach in knots. It meant 2 nights at sea & I don´t mind admitting that I have not been fond of night sailing in the past . That and a fear of snagging one of the many craypots that seem to litter the coast during cray season was not making me feel too easy about this next trip. The first day was forcast for E/NE 10/15 knots turning S/E then E. The swell had died down a little from our previous leg & all was well onboard. The wind died in the afternoon and for a while we motorsailed but then the Easterly kicked in and by 10pm we had 3 reefs in the main and the headsail also reefed, the swell was up again and we had quite an uncomfortable night. The only bonus was that we had a moon to light the way and so far the night horrors seem to have left me. We discoverer a few leaks on deck which we didn’t know about and will have to see if we can find them, not easy as we had such a mish mash of sea water over the deck we can’t tell where the water would have entered. The next day the sun was shining and we could feel the warmth of the sun as we headed north. Second night out we were both finding it hard to stay awake, it takes a few days to get into the swing of night sailing and proper watches. The swells seemed bigger and were coming up our stern making the boat roll. We found it best to take the mainsail down and sail with just 2 small headsails out. Dawn came just as we entered Steep Point, the southern end of Shark Bay. Once through the entrance we were in beautiful calm, clear blue water, white sandy beaches and warm sun shine. As we dropped the anchor we watched it find its way to the sandy bottom. Both had a big smile on our faces happy that we had got what we think is the worst part of our journey over with. We celébrated with a big cooked breakfast, tidied up a little and then had a much needed sleep for a few hours. We had sailed 277 nautical miles in 47.75 hours, an average of 5.7 knots and 5 hours faster than our same trip in ‘97. Time to relax and enjoy Shark Bay and prepare ourselves for the big sail to Cocos Keeling Island sometime towards the end of June.
.jpg)
For me, (Jean), anticipation of our next leg from Jurien Bay to Steep Point had been building for a while and tieing my stomach in knots. It meant 2 nights at sea & I don´t mind admitting that I have not been fond of night sailing in the past . That and a fear of snagging one of the many craypots that seem to litter the coast during cray season was not making me feel too easy about this next trip. The first day was forcast for E/NE 10/15 knots turning S/E then E. The swell had died down a little from our previous leg & all was well onboard. The wind died in the afternoon and for a while we motorsailed but then the Easterly kicked in and by 10pm we had 3 reefs in the main and the headsail also reefed, the swell was up again and we had quite an uncomfortable night. The only bonus was that we had a moon to light the way and so far the night horrors seem to have left me. We discoverer a few leaks on deck which we didn’t know about and will have to see if we can find them, not easy as we had such a mish mash of sea water over the deck we can’t tell where the water would have entered. The next day the sun was shining and we could feel the warmth of the sun as we headed north. Second night out we were both finding it hard to stay awake, it takes a few days to get into the swing of night sailing and proper watches. The swells seemed bigger and were coming up our stern making the boat roll. We found it best to take the mainsail down and sail with just 2 small headsails out. Dawn came just as we entered Steep Point, the southern end of Shark Bay. Once through the entrance we were in beautiful calm, clear blue water, white sandy beaches and warm sun shine. As we dropped the anchor we watched it find its way to the sandy bottom. Both had a big smile on our faces happy that we had got what we think is the worst part of our journey over with. We celébrated with a big cooked breakfast, tidied up a little and then had a much needed sleep for a few hours. We had sailed 277 nautical miles in 47.75 hours, an average of 5.7 knots and 5 hours faster than our same trip in ‘97. Time to relax and enjoy Shark Bay and prepare ourselves for the big sail to Cocos Keeling Island sometime towards the end of June.
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